some call it tragic, some call it serendipity
by 2olluxampora
Summary: Ever since they first became friends online, Sollux had a huge crush on caligulasAquarium. They never shared much information about their personal lives, but had become close all the same. When Sollux happens to move into the same city as CA, he starts to notice some odd similarities between his online crush and his new History teacher, Eridan Ampora.
1. first day

AA: let me know how things go!

TA: ii already know iit'2 goiing two be awful.

It would be a grave understatement to say that Sollux Captor was upset about his recent move. He was upset when Mituna ate the last piece of pizza. He was upset when he got a bad grade on a test. This was far more drastic than either of those things. This uprooted his entire life partway through his junior year of high school, more or less on his father's whims.

Sure, it could be argued that the job offer his father got in this new city would pay better and make him happier. It could be argued that a new start after Mituna's accident would be good for all of them anyway. And that was the way Simon Captor was choosing to spin it. But Sollux had a lingering suspicion that there were other reasons. The timing of it all would make anyone suspicious, he thought. The move had been announced barely a month after Sollux had come out as bisexual. And then his father had proceeded to enroll him in a Catholic school, while allowing Mituna to continue to attend public school under the excuse that they had better special ed services.

At the moment, it felt like messaging Aradia was the only thing keeping him sane. Sollux had a slew of various acquaintances back at his old school, but only two really close friends. Aradia and Karkat. Leaving them was the worst part of the move. Not to mention how he'd been the one holding the three of them together. It was dubious whether Aradia and Karkat would even continue to hang out without Sollux there.

He was abruptly snapped out of these thoughts by his father's increasingly irritated tone of voice, leading him to wonder how long he'd been sitting there.

"Just get out of the damn car, Sollux, please." Right. They'd been parked near his new school for about five minutes, and the Gemini was still just sitting in the passenger's seat, staring blankly out the window. The new house was within walking distance of the school, and some solitude might've done him some good before having to face the day, but his father had insisted on driving him to make sure he didn't just ditch.

Running his slim fingers through his hair and shoving his phone in his pocket, Sollux grabbed his backpack and got out of the car, slamming the door purposefully behind him. It was childish, yes, but he was intent on expressing his displeasure every possible way he could.

Even as he walked inside, tugging self-consciously at his required white button-down shirt, it became increasingly obvious that Catholic school was a unique experience. He'd never seen so many religious items together outside of an actual church, for one. Another, more pleasant thing was how much smaller and easier to navigate the building was.

Periodically checking for new texts from one of his friends, Sollux easily found his locker and started shoving stuff into it. Every other group of students who walked past made some kind of comment to the effect of "Is that the new kid?" Clearly fresh meat was big news here.

His morning classes were entirely uneventful, not all that different from at his old school. Sollux thought he saw someone staring at him, a girl with shockingly red hair and glasses to match, but simply shrugged it off, convincing himself that he'd imagined it. Besides that, nothing until lunch really caught his attention.

CA was Sollux's best online friend, and was therefore the perfect candidate for a distraction. They never shared much about their personal lives, so he wouldn't be prying about how the day was going like Aradia or Karkat would.

TA: ii'm haviing 2uch a 2hiitty day.

CA: neww towwn losing its appeal already?

How could he even answer that without revealing why he'd moved? Sollux had no idea how old CA was, and the reverse was also true. If he had to guess though, he'd say that the other was probably at least in college, so learning that Sollux was still a junior in high school might not exactly be welcome.

TA: iit never had any appeal iin the fiir2t place...

TA: diidn't you 2ay that you liive around here though?

CA: yeah, i did. wwho knowws, wwe might run into each other at some point and not evven knoww.

TA: ii gue22 that make2 leaviing the hou2e a liittle more exciitiing.

TA: the thought of fiinally 2eeiing the face of the my2teriiou2 caliigula2aquariium...2woon.

CA: i could say the same about you. maybe wwe can set something up.

CA: i gotta go for noww though. i'll talk to you later 3

TA: yeah, ii 2hould probably go too. 3

He wasn't really sure when they'd started sending hearts with their goodbyes, but it was oddly comforting. It didn't exactly help with Sollux's crush on CA either. Even with the minimal amount of personal information he knew, something about him and the dynamic between them was just perfect. They still argued sometimes, but a lot less than when they first met. Back then, they could hardly have a conversation without it devolving into some kind of petty argument.

Starting to really hear all the cafeteria noise he'd been tuning out before, Sollux sighed and threw away what was left of his lunch. He'd wasted a good portion of the time talking to CA, since his responses weren't the quickest. Before he could even decide if he had time to do anything else, the bell rang, answering his question for him.

History was his last class of the day, and after the utterly boring day he'd had so far, Sollux wasn't expecting much when he was asked to come early and talk with the teacher. But perhaps he was wrong...He froze in the doorway, just staring blankly at the man who must be the Ampora, E. that was listed as his History teacher on his schedule. He looked fairly young, perhaps mid to late twenties, and practically like he could be a model instead of a teacher. The man pushed his glasses a little higher on his nose and glanced over at Sollux, smiling knowingly.

The moment was disrupted by someone shoving Sollux into the room, causing him to stumble forward a few steps and look back at who pushed him.

"Damn, Eridan, this poor boy only just got here today and he's already crushing on you," the girl behind him said, almost mockingly. Her plaid skirt was rolled up to her mid-thigh, and there were blue streaks in her long, tangled blonde hair despite the school's ban on unnatural hair colors.

"Vris, shouldn't you be in class? I don't want to give you detention for skipping again, but I will." The man, presumably Eridan Ampora, sounded only vaguely irritated, like he was used to this Vris girl doing things like this. And when Sollux thought about it for a moment, he remembered that she was sitting next to the girl with the red glasses that had been staring at him earlier in Trig. Something about that particular coincidence made him think that they just might wind up being his new friends.

"Oh, please," the girl said with a roll of her eyes. "Give me a break, it's not like you'd really turn me in for skipping Theology." Another moment of thought provided the vague memory of the name Vriska Serket being called in Sollux's Theology class that he'd been excused from to come here.

"Whatever...Can you just let me meet with the student you're already harassing?" After saying this, Eridan moved his attention to Sollux rather than Vriska. "I'm sorry, Sollux, I certainly wasn't intending to be distracted by another student."

"Uh, it's no problem..." What else could he say, really?

"Fiiiine, I'll go," Vriska said with a heavy sigh, blue-painted lips twisting into a smirk. "But I'm sure I'll be seeing you later, Sollux." With that, she turned on her heel and left, strolling down the hall as if she had nowhere to be.

A little uncertainly, Sollux walked further into the room, pausing in front of Eridan's desk. He didn't even know why the teacher wanted to see him, and between that smile and Vriska's comment, the whole situation felt strange.

"So...what did you want to talk to me about?" Sollux nudged his own glasses up, trying not to stare. Even the violet streak in his hair that matched his eyes perfectly was enticing in some way, like it was encouraging Sollux to stare.

"Oh, I just like to check in with new students, see where their class at their old school was at with things, stuff like that. This is an AP course, so it's important to make sure you're not behind on things." As he spoke, Eridan gathered up a small stack of papers, along with a textbook, handing them over to Sollux.

The Gemini glanced over the materials he was given, discovering that they were on the same topic he'd be on if he was still at his old school. The conversation that followed was relatively short and exclusively about the classwork, so he didn't get any new interesting information about what that whole thing with Vriska was about, or anything about Eridan himself.

Soon enough, the bell rang, and more students came into the room for class. His calm alone time with Eridan was over. He supposed that he should probably be thinking of him as Mr. Ampora, but after hearing Vriska call him Eridan, he couldn't stop thinking of him that way.

As it turned out, Vriska shared this class with him too, as did her redhaired, freckled companion.

"Hey, Sollux," Vriska whispered from behind him, jabbing the back of his shoulder with her index finger. "We should talk later." Without any further elaboration, she tossed a folded-up scrap of notebook paper onto his desk.

Sollux shrugged and unfolded it, wondering why these two girls were so fascinated with him. On the paper were what appeared to be two Pesterchum handles. Scrawled rather messily in red ink was gallowsCalibrator, and then below it in blue was arachnidsGrip. Even though it was lacking significance, the fact that they'd written in his two favorite colors brought a slight smile to his face. Maybe he actually would message them later.

When he was surreptitiously adding them to his contacts list under his desk, he decided to send CA a quick message too.

TA: on the briight 2iide, at lea2t ii 2aw a hot guy twoday lmao

TA: and ii'll be 2eeiing hiim pretty much every day now. no need two be jealou2 though, ii'm 2ure you're even more 2tunniingly attractiive.

After he sent it, he tucked his phone back into his pocket before Eridan would notice, hardly even noticing that another phone in the room chimed twice as soon as he sent the messages to CA.


	2. jealousy

CA: i don't knoww if i like this guy.

CA: he might steal your affections before you evven knoww it and then wwhere wwill i be?

TA: that'2 not goiing two happen. ever.

TA: there ii2 no po22iibiiliity he and ii wiill ever date.

CA: okay, wwhatevver you say.

CA: howw hot are wwe talking here though?

CA: do you havve any pictures?

TA: why and how would ii have piicture2 when ii ju2t met hiim twoday?

CA: i dunno. just wwonderin...

TA: two an2wer your other que2tiion though, really hot.

TA: liike a 9 probably.

CA: damn, and you havve good taste, so he probably really is a 9.

TA: uh, thank2.

CA: i saww a pretty hot guy today too though.

CA: he wwasn't a 9, but maybe an 8?

CA: also wway too young for me, but still incredibly tempting.

CA: skinny jeans suit him vvery wwell.

TA: how young ii2 way two young for you?

CA: this guy wwas 16, maybe 17.

TA: 2candalou2.

And so went Sollux's conversation with CA after school. Not too out of the ordinary, but now he knew for sure that there was an age gap between them, since Sollux was 16. Apparently he was way too young for CA, not that the other knew that.

In addition to his complicated romantic entanglements with the author of the purple text filling his screen, Sollux couldn't stop thinking about that first moment when he walked into the classroom and saw Eridan. It wasn't just about finding his young teacher attractive either. There was a feeling that he could only describe as a mental tugging at something. Like a familiarity that for the life of him, he couldn't figure out the origins of. It was clear that Eridan had felt it too, even if only for a moment.

"And her name is Latula and she's a senior and she's really nice and she skateboards..." Mituna had been going on and on about some girl he'd met at school for the past five minutes, most of which Sollux had been unintentionally tuning out. It was hard to focus on anything other than the way Eridan had smiled at him. Clearly even Vriska had noticed the romantic vibes or she wouldn't have made that comment.

"She plays video games too, and I thought maybe she could come over sometime and...are you even listening to me, douchebag?" Mituna scowled, clearly making a valiant effort to glare at his twin through his bangs. Sollux felt a twinge of guilt, taking a sip of his soda.

"Yeah, of course I'm listening, bro. She sounds nice."

That seemed to satisfy Mituna enough to keep him rambling, with more than a few sex jokes thrown into his commentary on Latula, who was apparently the most beautiful and perfect girl in the entire world.

After about twenty minutes of this, Sollux got up and walked out to the kitchen, knowing his brother would follow him. There was no reason to just sit on the couch and listen to a blow by blow account of Mituna's entire day when he could be making dinner. Their father had left a hastily scribbled note on the counter saying that he'd be out late with coworkers, therefore leaving Sollux in charge of everything. He had to wonder when the phrase 'at the bar' started becoming acceptably interchangeable with 'with coworkers,' but it didn't really matter when either way, he was standing in front of the stove making mac and cheese.

He finished making dinner and dished it up, slumping down at their already cluttered kitchen table. Mituna, rather than actually sitting with him, immediately wandered off with his bowl.

"I'm gonna go Skype my friends now." Sollux wondered what friends Mituna could possibly be Skyping, since he didn't have more than one back home, but bit back that comment. If he got too mean, he'd only upset Mituna, and that would make the night even worse. So he sat at the table alone, surrounded by cardboard boxes, and ate his dinner.

arachnidsGrip [AG] accepted your friend request.

gallowsCalibrator [GC] accepted your friend request.

Neither of the girls appeared to be online now, which was good. Sollux didn't particularly want to have that kind of conversation right now. He wasn't even sure what 'that kind' of conversation was, really, but he knew he didn't want to have it yet. Vriska would make it about Eridan, and he had no idea what Terezi would do.

The rest of the night was lonely, as was becoming normal. He heard the slammed door that indicated his father was home at 1:00 AM, and felt Mituna crawl into bed with him a few minutes later. Sighing softly, Sollux wrapped one tired arm around him and ran his fingers through his brother's hair.

"Do you think it's my fault that Dad's so sad now?" Even half-asleep, Sollux could hear the waver in Mituna's voice.

"No," he whispered back, trying to sound convincing. "It's not your fault."

"Promise?"

"Promise. Now try to go to sleep."

Rather than following his own advice, Sollux didn't let himself drift off until he felt the warmth of Mituna's slowed, steady breathing against his neck. His bed was barely big enough for both of them, but they both needed the comfort, so he wouldn't even think of forcing the other to go back to his own room. Before he knew it, Sollux had fallen asleep too.

_The pressure was building in his skull to almost impossible levels, to the point where it felt like his head was about to implode. The blood blurred his vision, then completely obscured it. He could feel it coming from his nose and mouth too, choking him. He had to get in, and fast. _

_All of a sudden, he felt cold floor beneath him, and someone was crying. _

Sollux woke up, shirt sticking to his back with sweat. He'd hoped that maybe the dreams would stop after the move, but clearly they hadn't. He briefly considered calling Aradia even though it was the middle of the night, since she was the only one who knew about them. But any talking would wake up Mituna, and his phone was across the room anyway. So instead, he stared at the streetlight out the window and tried to forget the hyper-realistic feeling of choking to death on his own blood.

By the time his alarm went off, he could still nearly taste it.

"Come on MT, get up..." He sighed, shoving his brother lightly. They couldn't afford to be late on their second day at their new schools, and their father definitely wouldn't be happy about it. At least Mituna had gotten a decent amount of sleep, even if Sollux hadn't.

The other boy got up after a few more minutes of urging, allowing Sollux to get up and get ready himself. For the second day in a row, he took the risk of trying to pass off black skinny jeans as uniform pants, and he felt a twinge of jealousy as he remembered CA talking about the attractive skinny jean-clad teenager he'd apparently seen yesterday. Even though it was unrealistic to think he'd ever progress to a genuine romantic relationship with someone whose real name he didn't even know, something about him checking out other guys stung a bit.

The first person he saw when he walked into school was Vriska. He knew he really shouldn't have been surprised, since he was fairly certain he'd already seen everyone who attended the school in the halls the day before, but it was hard to get used to. At first, he thought he might be able to sneak past her, but she shot out a hand and caught his arm in a vise grip almost instantly.

"What, thought you could sneak away? This school isn't anywhere big enough for that. Besides, I wanted to talk." Her smirk was downright terrifying, but Sollux agreed and they started just walking laps around the halls as they talked.

"So, what did you want to talk to me about?"

"I can help you get with Eridan, if that's what you want," Vriska said, as lightly as if she was offering to buy him a coffee instead of hooking him up with their History teacher.

"Um...Wow. I mean, yeah, he's hot, but I..." Sollux felt his face heat up, and he glanced around their immediate vicinity anxiously, worried someone would hear what they were discussing.

"Just trust me. I know him really well, and I know you guys would make a good couple. I'll start working on it as soon as I can." Without so much as a 'see you later," she glided into the next restroom they passed, lipstick tube already out of her bag. Sollux just stood there for a moment, trying to figure out what exactly had happened.

And clearly the universe didn't want him to have a single peaceful moment, because the next person he saw was Eridan.

"You might want to consider following dress code in the future, Mr. Captor," Eridan said in lieu of a greeting. "I won't write you up today since you just started here, but some of the other teachers are a lot stricter."

"You might want to consider the fact that I know damn well you were just staring at my ass," Sollux retorted. It was really just a guess, but apparently a good one, since the other's face instantly flushed.

"That is a completely ridiculous accusation and you shouldn't believe anything that Vriska tells you."

"I didn't say anything about Vriska though...?" Now Sollux was just confused. Maybe Vriska was actually on to something if any implication that Sollux might think Eridan was attracted to him instantly made him think Vriska had something to do with it.

"I saw you talkin to her though. Just...follow dress code." Still blushing, Eridan pushed his glasses a bit higher on his nose and brushed past him, continuing down the hallway.

For some reason, out of all the things he could possibly be thinking about, Sollux wondered why the hell Eridan actually called him Mr. Captor. He'd noticed that he did that to other students too, but Vriska was very conspicuously Vris, not Miss Serket. They must really be friends then, if she was the one notable exception to his overly pretentious form of address.

All day, he thought about both CA and Eridan. How had he wound up with such poor judgment that he had crushes on not one but two older guys?

Eridan assigned a group project in History, so Sollux pretty much spent the entire class joking around with Terezi and watching Vriska tease Eridan. It was surprisingly nice, almost like he was back with Karkat and Aradia. When Eridan walked past, his hand brushed against Sollux's, seemingly on purpose, and both Vriska and Terezi had the least subtle grins on their faces ever. Yeah, he decided. It really was nice.

TA: ii thiink ii'm fliirtiing wiith one of my teacher2.

TA: and ii thiink he'2 fliirtiing back.

AA: what about ca?

TA: ii don't know, but part of iit ii2 that he'2 really 2iimiilar two CA.

TA: weiird, huh?

* * *

><p><strong>((AN: Thank you to everyone who has reviewed, you really motivate me!))**


	3. catalyst

Within a couple of weeks, his new routine seemed pretty normal. Talk to CA online, Skype Aradia and Karkat, spend most of his time with Vriska and Terezi...Even his almost but not quite flirting with Eridan had become part of the routine. Sollux was still waiting to see if anything would come of Vriska's promise to somehow make things progress beyond that, but for now, this was good enough. For that matter, he still had a few doubts about whether he _wanted _anything more to come of it. Sure, Eridan was plenty attractive, and he seemed nice enough, but Sollux still knew next to nothing about him.

What he did know was that every day, Eridan made empty threats to write him up for dress code violations or having his phone out, and every day, Eridan's gaze would linger a little longer than it should. Sollux considered talking to CA about it and asking for advice, but he never did beyond a few vague mentions. It was like mentioning Eridan to CA would somehow violate a universal law and send the world into chaos. The reverse would also be true, if he ever considered it or had a reason to mention CA to Eridan in the first place.

It seemed like his daily routine of sorts of interacting with Eridan would remain static forever. But eventually, like with everything else, there was a catalyst that sent things spiraling out of control.

Sollux was distracted, gaze fixed on the floor as he walked. That was hardly unusual. His mind was never entirely free of things to brood over, and this particular morning, it was the math test he'd just taken. It was relatively inconsequential, as it turned out later. He'd gotten a 95% on it, but at the time he'd been convinced that he failed.

If he hadn't thought so, it could've changed the entire course of the following weeks and months. Still muttering to himself under his breath, he caught sight of a door out of the corner of his eye and opened it, all without paying enough attention to know what room it led to.

When he finally glanced up as the door shut behind him, he realized that he'd blundered his way into the girls' bathroom. He was now that guy. At that point, Sollux would've turned and left while hoping that nobody noticed what he'd done. But instead, he was confronted with the sight of what the door had hit on his way in. Or more accurately, who.

"Why did this have to happen to me?" Sollux's face likely resembled a tomato by now, but he simply couldn't make himself turn around and leave.

His only friends in the school were somehow wedged into the tiny amount of free space near the sinks, making out like he hadn't just barged in and hit them with the heavy door.

After what felt like a century, Vriska slowly pulled away.

"Sollux, what are you doing here?"

Then, naturally, Terezi chimed in.

"Wait, are you saying that Sollux was the one who hit us with the door?"

Not able to figure out how to respond, he just stared at the trace amounts of blue lipstick now lingering on Terezi's lips for a moment longer before slowly backing out of the bathroom. He was planning on just returning to study hall and pretending he hadn't seen Vriska and Terezi.

In those few seconds between starting to exit the bathroom and the next portion of this unexpected series of events, Sollux didn't have time to think much. The one thing he did think was "this day can't possibly get any more weird." He was wrong.

Sollux had barely cleared the doorway when he came face to face with Eridan.

"I was just walkin down the hall, and you walkin out of the ladies' room is one of the last things I expected to see. Are you going to explain?" In addition to his usual, vaguely irritated expression, Eridan looked almost hurt.

Sollux didn't know what to think about that. Why would that unfortunate mistake bother Eridan so much?

"Um..." Not even trying to finish his sentence, Sollux quickly walked away, back to study hall.

With Sollux halfway down the hall, before Eridan had composed himself enough to keep walking, Vriska emerged from the bathroom, telltale smirk on her face. Immediately jumping to conclusions, Eridan blocked her path.

"God, Vris, don't fuckin tell me you were makin out in the bathroom. I could write you up for this."

"Wait...how'd you know?" Vriska looked confused, as if she was trying to figure out what part of her appearance had given it away, and why Eridan cared so much.

"Because I just saw Sollux come out a there. I'll be speakin to him about it as well." In his effort to remain strictly professional, Eridan only made it more obvious that he was upset about what he assumed had happened.

"How is Sollux involved in this? He just..._oh. _You think he's the one I was with. That explains why you're so pissed." Vriska laughed quietly, shifting her bag on her shoulder. "He just accidentally walked into the wrong bathroom. If you really want to punish me for this, the other person you should be talking to is Terezi."

"Wait, so he's not...Sol is..."

"Totally single and reciprocating your pathetic attempts at sneaky flirting, yes."

"You can't be suggestin that I should actually do something more than that...If someone found out, I'd be screwed for the rest of my life, in all likelihood." Eridan was fiddling with the ends of his scarf, though he looked to be considering it.

"You'd probably be screwed if someone found out that I've spent the night at your house before too, but that doesn't stop you from letting me."

"That was a completely different situation and not romantic in the least," Eridan protested.

"I doubt anyone else would care. Just go for it. It's obvious that he feels the same way." Vriska paused a moment, deliberating, and then spoke again. "Today. Before you lose what little nerve you have." Not giving Eridan a chance to argue or respond at all, she walked away, Terezi following soon after.

Eridan walked in the opposite direction, thinking about what Vriska had said. It was definitely risky attempting a relationship with Sollux, and he wasn't entirely sure if he himself was okay with it. There was a lingering sense of guilt, partially because Sollux was his student, and partially because of twinArmageddons. The idea of dating someone else almost felt like cheating, even though TA was only yellow text on his screen and they'd never really discussed any romantic feelings.

In the midst of his thinking, which was able to be fairly prolonged due to him not having a class to teach that period, Sollux walked in. It would be eerily similar to that first day, except Sollux looked far more comfortable now. He strode in, pausing right in front of Eridan.

"Vriska said you wanted to see me. Is this about what happened earlier? Because that was just a mistake."

What really confused Eridan about that was that he'd never told Vriska to tell Sollux anything like that. She must've decided to take things into her own hands to try and force him to make a move.

"Uh, no, I know that...That wasn't what I wanted to discuss." Might as well just go with it at this point.

"Then what was it?" Sollux was biting his lip slightly and tugging at the hem of his shirt. It was clearly a nervous reflex, and Eridan felt a little bad for causing it. He wanted nothing more than to just pull the Gemini into his arms and soothe all of his worries.

"Well...I, uh...I'm sure you're not oblivious to the embarrassingly flirtatious nature of many of our interactions." Now Eridan was the one fidgeting, moving a little closer.

Apparently unable to continue the awkward conversation, Sollux closed the gap between them, pulling Eridan into a kiss.

"I figured that's where this was headed anyway," he said after he pulled away.

Eridan just blinked at him, face bright red. Yes, he'd just been thinking about kissing Sollux, but he hadn't been expecting that.

"I guess it was," he agreed. "But are you sure about this? It won't be like a normal relationship. We'd have to be extremely careful not to get caught. And honestly, we don't know all that much about each other." He hated having to try to dissuade Sollux, but he had to know what he was getting into.

"I know," the teen replied. "But I want to try it if you do."

Arms still loosely wrapped around Sollux, Eridan nodded. Sollux was really warm, he noticed. Probably good to cuddle with. But he pulled away fully, not wanting to risk someone seeing them.

"We'll see. We'll see how it goes," he finally decided. And once they were out of view of anyone who might be walking down the hall, he pulled Sollux into a kiss. It didn't last very long, and it wasn't very romantic, but it was something.

"Shouldn't you be going back to class?" The question was muttered against Sollux's impossibly soft lips, since he was simply not pulling away.

"It's just study hall, and there's only like ten minutes left. I think I can afford to stay a little longer." Sollux punctuated this with his thumb gently tracing along Eridan's cheekbone.

"Alright. I suppose you can stay, if only because it's pretty damn hard to say no to you. You have to have left by the time my next class comes though." Eridan smiled softly, something he didn't do very often. He smirked, sure, but a genuine smile was pretty rare.

"Good. Maybe we can actually get to know each other now or something." Sollux laughed quietly, still unable to place that odd sense of familiarity. There were actually two reasons for it, one more obvious than the other, but Sollux had failed to puzzle out either of them.

"Yeah, that might be good."

"...so, it's kind of ironic that my dad sent me here to try to get me to date girls, only for me to wind up with you. It's almost disappointing that I won't be able to piss him off by telling him that." Sollux sighed, leaning against Eridan. They'd been telling each other about their lives for the past ten or fifteen minutes, but now Sollux really did need to go.

Just as he was about to say so, the bell rang, doing it for him.

"Alright, Sol, as much as I wish you could stay longer, go. We don't need anyone potentially getting suspicious about why you were here." Eridan gave the younger boy a bit of a nudge towards the doorway before relenting and giving him one more kiss a moment later.

"Okay, see you later then, I guess." The disappointment was evident on Sollux's face, but he left to go to his next class anyway.

Mere moments later, Eridan's next group of students flooded into the room, and he forced the dreamy grin off of his face, replacing it with his typical scowl. If anyone noticed him smiling, they'd definitely know something was up.

He got up and started his lecture, Sollux on his mind the whole time. It wasn't until the class left that he noticed Sollux's phone sitting on his desk, next to his laptop, which still had his earlier conversation with TA up on the screen when he brought it out of hibernation mode. Eridan remembered the Gemini taking his phone out at one point, but he'd been certain he remembered to put it back in his pocket. Apparently not. Oh well, he'd just give it back to him at the end of the day. Now, he really needed to reply to TA.

CA: howw wwas your morning?

CA: wwe still need to set up a date to meet.

A moment after he clicked send, Sollux's phone lit up.


	4. realization

At first, Eridan dismissed it as a coincidence, not even sparing Sollux's phone more than a glance. Whoever the other was getting messages from, it was none of his business, even if the timing was odd. He sighed softly, running a hand through his hair and once again returning his attention to his conversation. Of course, it was more one-sided than anything at the moment, but he was sure that TA would answer soon. He almost always did around this time of day.

CA: its not crucial or anything of course

CA: wwe'vve gone this long, so a little longer wwon't hurt

CA: i'vve got a class in a couple minutes, but i'll be able to talk at 3:00 like alwways

Of course, he'd failed to specify that he was the teacher of said class as opposed to a student, but it wasn't all that relevant. TA was most likely a college student, so a little younger than him, but not a dealbreaker. His fifteen minutes of kissing and cuddling with Sollux had almost completely slipped his mind now, and that wasn't exactly accidental. It was a mistake. He didn't know Sollux, and he was his underage student besides. And he'd had feelings for TA for almost a year, with the other seeming to reciprocate them.

While Eridan was mulling those thoughts over, Sollux's phone lit up once again, and vibrated three times. The same number of messages he'd sent to TA. This time his curiosity really was piqued, so he looked over at it, heart nearly stopping when he saw the "CA: i'vve got a class in a couple..."

There was no denying it. Sollux and TA were the same person.

Suddenly feeling a bit nauseous, Eridan closed out of Pesterchum and turned Sollux's phone face down. Out of sight, out of mind. He kept trying to remind himself of that as he went through the motions of teaching the class. Eventually, Sollux would have to know about this. Sooner rather than later, preferably. Things would only turn out even worse if Sollux found out that Eridan had known and not told him. So it would have to be sooner.

When his last class of the day eventually filtered into the room, he saw Sollux smile at him in a slightly different way than usual. It was more knowing, like he was proud of their new pseudo-relationship to some degree. Eridan just smiled back, not sure what else to do.

As he passed back the tests from a few days before, he lingered an extra moment next to Sollux, hoping nobody would notice that their fingers were now loosely intertwined, thanks to Sollux.

"I need to talk to you after class," he mumbled, pulling his hand free and setting the graded test on his desk before continuing on. Sollux nodded, not saying anything in response. Eridan couldn't help glancing at the phone on his desk every few moments, reconsidering the value of disclosing this information.

When everyone else had left, finally, Eridan walked over to Sollux, footsteps echoing quietly on the tile floor.

"You left your phone here this morning," he said, handing it to him. This was his last chance to leave it at that, to avoid the inevitable awkwardness and change.

"Oh, yeah, I was wondering where that went," Sollux replied, promptly unlocking it and opening Pesterchum. Eridan watched as he typed out a reply.

TA: yeah, ii'm free now too

TA: ii forgot where ii left my phone, 2o ii ju2t 2aw your me22age2 now.

TA: when were you thiinkiing? and where, for that matter?

"So is that all you wanted to talk about, or was there something else on your mind?" Sollux looked up from his phone at Eridan, shifting slightly from foot to foot. His indecision about whether or not he should lean in for a kiss was pretty obvious, and Eridan briefly entertained the idea of making the decision for him, but he didn't.

"Yeah, there is something we need to discuss... I'm honestly not sure how to say this, and I've been tryin' to figure it out since I found out this morning, so I guess I'll just..."

He pulled out his own phone, opening his conversation with TA... er, Sollux, for the other to see.

"I had no idea you were so young. If I'd known, I would've stopped things a year ago before they went too far, but now..." He sighed, not sure what else to say.

Sollux was actually shaking a bit when he handed the phone back, completely shocked.

"So you're CA... all this time... You've been one of my best friends. Hell, we might as well have been dating."

"I know. I've had feelings for you for quite awhile now. And before I wound up seein' my own messages on your phone, I was half plannin' on callin' this whole thing off in favor of pursuin' TA, who I thought was a more suitable age. But you're him too, so... I guess we'll just try to make this work, if you want to." He pushed his glasses up a little, hand involuntarily creeping over to grasp Sollux's.

"Yeah, I want to. I pretty much feel the same way. And now we actually do know each other really well, so I know it's worth it." Sollux leaned up just slightly, kissing Eridan to confirm it.

"That must be why you seemed so familiar," he said afterwards, arms still wrapped around the taller man.

"Yeah, I thought you seemed awful familiar too. Must've been similarities in the way you talk or something." The conversation of unnerving familiarity was left at that for the moment.

"I feel like we should celebrate somehow, now that we've met in person and all," Sollux said.

"Yeah, maybe we should. What kind of celebration did you have in mind exactly?" The idea of being able to spend the evening together, reminiscing about old experiences they'd shared in their many conversations online, or just watching a movie was great. Eridan was a little hesitant about the idea of inviting Sollux to his house though, just because of the risk involved.

"I don't know. Just something, you know?"

"Well... if you can come up with a decent excuse for your parents and everything, you could come over and we could order pizza or something. I just don't know if I wanna risk doing something in public."

"Yeah... I can just text my dad and tell him I'm with Terezi or something." Sollux seemed happy enough with the idea, and it would probably be nice to have someone else in the house for a change.

"Oh... so are you sayin' you just want to come with me now instead of goin' home first?"

"Yeah, why not? I'd really rather not walk home and then have to try and figure out how I'll get to your house after." Sollux shrugged, pulling away some but still holding Eridan's hand loosely.

"Alright, I guess that's fine." Eridan let go of Sollux's hand long enough to grab his things before heading in the direction of the classroom door. "Do you wanna go to your locker or anything or should we just go?"

Sollux thought about it for a moment as he walked through the door, mentally running through the list of homework he had but probably wouldn't do until the last minute.

"Nah, I'm good. We can go."

Eridan nodded and started down the hall, hoping that they'd waited long enough that they wouldn't run into anyone who might question why they were together.

But they made it out to the parking lot and into Eridan's car without any problems. Sollux typed out a quick text to his father about being with friends, and then shifted his hand over to Eridan's knee, just casually resting it there like they'd been dating for years. Eridan laid his hand on top of Sollux's for a few moments before reluctantly moving it away again so that he could drive them home.

The silence was a little awkward at first, but then Sollux started messing with the radio to find a suitable station, and a few moments later, they were both singing along. Quietly at first, like they were both self-conscious about their voices, and then a little louder. Neither of them were especially good singers, but it was comfortable. Almost familiar.

"Wow, Sol, I guess you weren't joking when you said that your singing voice sounds like a dying cat," Eridan teased. His own wasn't much better, and by the end of the song, they'd both been trying to sing badly, but he couldn't resist making fun of the other.

"Yeah, you're one to talk," Sollux replied, rolling his eyes. "I guess neither of us will be doing any romantic serenades."

"I'm actually a wonderful singer when I want to be, and I resent that comment." It was a halfhearted comment at best, since Eridan was focusing on driving, but he was doing his best to keep up the banter.

"Mhm, sure."

Then, things went mostly silent again for the last few minutes of the drive, save for the background noise emanating from the radio.

"I still can't quite believe that you're CA," Sollux admitted once they were in the house as he looked around the living room. "Just... wow. I'm glad though, because if CA wasn't you, I'd have to choose between you and him."

"It probably would've been better for you if you picked someone your own age, but I can't deny how close I feel to you." Eridan sighed softly, loosening his tie.

"Even when we first started talking online, it was like that," Sollux said. "Like I already knew you."

Eridan nodded thoughtfully, pulling him into a kiss.

"Love at first sight, maybe," he quipped. "Do you want anything to drink?"

Though they made light of it, neither one of them could shake the idea that they'd met for a reason, and not even the fact that they'd been online friends for over a year fully explained the sense of familiarity.

Sollux kept sneaking glances at Eridan throughout the evening. It wasn't as obvious before, but now he seemed strikingly like one of the individuals that kept appearing in his nightmares. Someone he had fought with, in one. There was enough differences to make him skeptical of himself though. He still wasn't sure what the dreams meant, and he definitely wasn't going to mention it to Eridan.

They ultimately wound up curled up on the couch, watching a movie. Eridan had ordered a pizza, and it was exactly how they imagined hanging out in person would be. Minutes passed, then hours, and before they knew it, it was getting kind of late.

Sollux had started to doze off, head nestled in the crook of Eridan's neck. It had been a long day, and he was so comfortable. He snuggled closer, yawning quietly. Eridan let him sleep for awhile, but woke him up at about 11:30.

"Sol... do you want me to drive you home? Your dad's probably wonderin' where you are."

The Gemini took a long few moments before responding, blinking at him sleepily and pressing a clumsy kiss to his lips.

"He's probably not even home. I could always just stay," Sollux said quietly, a little surprised with himself for making the suggestion. They'd only made their relationship official that day, and he was already offering to sleep over. Eridan was just as surprised, judging by the expression on his face.

"Um... As nice as that might be, I should really just take you home. It's a little soon for that, and besides, I don't think you really want to have to wear the same clothes to school tomorrow."

Pulling away and stretching, Sollux nodded. "Yeah, I guess so. Okay." The idea of having someone in bed next to him when he was inevitably plagued by nightmares was far nicer than the idea of going home and being alone. But he didn't protest, not wanting to seem too clingy.

They got ready and left, Sollux still half asleep as he walked to the car, wishing he had a jacket of some sort. Eridan seemed to almost read his mind, taking off the sweatshirt he'd just put on and handing it to him.

"Here, you must be freezing." They got into the car, Sollux slipping the sweatshirt on. It was too big and surprisingly warm, with the scent of Eridan's cologne clinging to it. Perfect. "Now, where do you live?"

Sollux managed to give Eridan directions to his house, which he himself had only learned how to get to about a week before, now that he knew the layout of this new town.

When Eridan pulled up to the house, he leaned over and gave him a kiss, smiling. "I'd do the cliche front porch kiss, but then someone might see us. So you'll have to settle for this."

"This is perfect," Sollux replied, kissing him one more time before getting out of the car, double-checking that he had all his stuff and wasn't forgetting anything important in Eridan's car. He was still wearing the sweatshirt, and decided he'd just give it back the next day. It made the walk up to the quiet house a lot more bearable. Of course, if his father was, in fact, home, there would be questions about why he was coming home at midnight wearing some man's hoodie, but he'd deal with it.

He crept inside and upstairs, ignoring the sounds from his father's study and the light on in Mituna's bedroom. Talking to anyone would break the spell. The night wouldn't be just him and Eridan anymore.

The floor creaked when he stepped inside his room, and he winced, hoping that his brother was asleep. After a moment's pause, there were no footsteps in the hallway. Good.

When he got into bed, he was still clutching the sweatshirt. Setting it down somewhere almost felt like a waste of having it for the night. A short time later, he fell asleep, hugging the mass of fabric to his chest.

That night, his nightmares revolved around being made into some sort of chimera-like creature. It was incredibly painful, his body and mind melding with another. There was no barrier between his own thoughts and those of the other half of the creature, like they were one entity trying in vain to split in two. After a while though, it grew comfortable, like the feeling of total understanding he felt with Eridan earlier.

As he was partially waking up, burying his face in Eridan's sweatshirt to fight off the last vestiges of that feeling, Eridan was waking up from the same dream.


	5. talking and silence

TA: the niightmare2 are gettiing wor2e...

AA: mine are too...much more vivid as well.

TA: what do you thiink iit mean2?

AA: i'm not sure. but it must be something of significance, since we've been having them for so long.

TA: ii'm not 2ure how much of your gho2t b2 ii really beliieve, but ii thiink eriidan ii2 iinvolved 2omehow.

AA: eridan? your teacher? why do you think that?

TA: well, for one thiing, he'2 CA. and we're datiing now. a2 of today.

TA: but ii've had thii2 weiird feeliing liike ii've met hiim before, and not ju2t becau2e he'2 CA.

AA: are you serious?

AA: you're actually dating one of your teachers?

AA: that's surprising, even for you.

TA: oh, 2hut up. not the poiint.

AA: alright, alright.

AA: it's possible that he's having these dreams too. maybe it's like a past life regression.

TA: okay, that'2 a liittle too riidiiculou2. pa2t liive2?

AA: well, do you have a better suggestion?

It was 4:00 AM, not the ideal time to be having this kind of conversation. But the dream had shaken Sollux up quite a bit, and Aradia had happened to be awake to respond to his messages. Finally though, when it was obvious no shocking revelations would be had, he decided to get a little more sleep.

TA: no.

TA: ii'm goiing back to 2leep.

He drifted off into a fitful sleep, phone still on his pillow next to his head. There were no nightmares, but the feeling of the one before lingered quite persistently. Two short hours later, his alarm went off.

As he got ready for school, Mituna questioned him relentlessly about where he'd been the night before, but thankfully didn't notice the sweatshirt sitting atop his bedspread. What he did notice was the incoming Pesterchum notification from CA.

"Hey, Sollux, who's caligulasAquarium?" Mituna asked, holding his phone. "They said 'good morning, did everything go okay last night?' And they put a heart too. Do you have a girlfriend?"

"What? No, MT, I don't have a girlfriend. Stop reading my texts." He grabbed the phone back, smiling down at that familiar purple color. Good morning texts from CA were a fairly regular occurrence, but Sollux hadn't been expecting Eridan to continue it. He wasn't sure why he had thought that, but he did.

CA: good morning 3

CA: did evverything go okay last night?

TA: yeah, ii managed to 2neak iin wiithout anyone notiiciing.

TA: ii'm really tiired though.

CA: wwell, at least today is friday.

TA: yeah

TA: ii 2hould probably go, my brother keep2 lookiing over my 2houlder.

TA: 2ee you later.

CA: okay, see you later.

TA: 3

He sighed and set his phone aside, wishing he had longer to talk to Eridan privately. Or at least semi-privately, without Mituna gawking at the screen. School wasn't exactly the best place to talk to him either, for obvious reasons.

Meanwhile, Eridan was dealing with a barrage of questions from Vriska about how things went with Sollux, something that he felt it was way too early for.

AG: So you guys are actually together now?

AG: I'm impressed. I didn't think you'd have the nerve.

CA: a course i got the nervve

CA: wwhy wwouldn't i?

AG: 8ecause you're afraid of getting in trou8le...

CA: pretty rightfully so, i think.

CA: i could be arrested.

AG: 8ut you did it anyway. How romantic.

CA: vvris, i'm really not in the mood for this convversation.

CA: don't bother sol about it either.

AG: You're calling him Sol now? Since when?

CA: since yesterday

Frustrated, he just ignored it when she replied. They'd been friends for awhile now, but Vriska's prying got very annoying sometimes. It didn't help that he'd gotten hardly any sleep. Maybe having Sollux in his bed would've helped.

Sollux refused his father's offer of a ride to school and walked, needing the silence to think. If only Aradia was here to talk to him and offer advice about the whole thing with Eridan. Not the actual relationship part as much, but the weird deja vu feeling and the dreams. He didn't have proof that Eridan had anything to do with it, or that the dreams were anything more than figments of his imagination that Aradia happened to experience as well. Even if he did know Eridan had the dreams too, what would he do with that information?

By the time he got to school, he hadn't made any progress on figuring it out. He wished that he could be with Eridan every night, and that maybe the other could help him figure this out with some new insight that Aradia hadn't thought of. It was extremely unlikely, but it didn't stop him from imagining how much better that would be.

The day passed in a blur up until the moment he walked into Eridan's class. Now that he knew for sure that their relationship was real, it was even more awkward than the day before having to remember to address him as Mr. Ampora instead of Eridan.

"Is this hard for you?" Vriska asked out of the blue, quiet enough that nobody else around them would hear.

"What are you talking about?" Of course, he had his suspicions, but he didn't want to assume and wind up giving Vriska information she didn't already have.

"Acting like you don't know him. Like you didn't spend half of last night making out on his couch," she said with a smirk, making it blatantly obvious that she knew somehow.

"Well, yeah...how do you know about that though?" Sollux made sure to keep his voice down. Someone overhearing and piecing together what was going on was the last thing he needed.

"He told me." She rolled her eyes as if it was obvious, reaching over to rummage through his bag and steal a piece of gum. "It's not like he ever would've gone through with asking you without my encouragement. I told you I'd help."

"Am I supposed to thank you or something? We knew each other before, we would've gotten together with or without your help," Sollux retorted, refusing to believe that Eridan wouldn't have told him about the whole CA thing without the encounter Vriska had orchestrated earlier in the day.

"I'm just saying. He really likes you, but he would've done the whole pining from a distance thing."

Eridan must've heard that part, because he paused in his lecture to turn towards them, raising an eyebrow questioningly. He clearly didn't want to draw any more attention to their conversation than necessary.

"Sorry," Vriska supplied, sounding far from genuine. "I was just telling Sollux something extremely important."

"Right...I'm sure," Eridan said, pausing another second or two before going back to speaking.

Sollux went back to doodling in the margins of his notebook, the conversation with Vriska clearly over for now. That was alright though. As much as the prospect of gaining knowledge on what Eridan thought of him appealed, conversations with Vriska were always unpredictable and dubiously accurate in terms of the information she passed along.

He offered Eridan an apologetic smile when their eyes met, knowing that he was probably concerned about how much Vriska had said out loud. They hadn't gotten to talk at all yet that day, besides the brief Pesterchum conversation first thing in the morning, which was less than usual. A lot of the time, back when their relationship was purely online, they'd talk in the morning, at lunch, and through the evening, sometimes with shorter exchanges in between.

"I missed you," he said softly, as soon as the last person had left the room. "I guess that sounds kind of pathetic though, since I was just with you last night."

"Don't worry, it doesn't sound that bad. I've kinda missed you too. What was that whole thing with Vris though? Was she botherin' you?" There was concern in Eridan's voice, not the anger that Sollux expected to hear.

"No, don't worry. It's fine. She was just trying to take credit for our relationship, which was annoying, but she wasn't really bothering me," Sollux said, hardly even noticing the way he'd said 'our relationship' like it was something steady enough to be called that.

"Our relationship, huh? Honestly, the whole Vris part of it aside, I kinda like the sound of that," Eridan admitted, smiling faintly. "It makes me feel like there really is an us, even if we have to hide it."

"Why wouldn't there be? I thought things were pretty clear from our talk yesterday."

"They were, they were. But...I don't know. I still kinda worried some." Eridan frowned slightly, taking Sollux's hand.

"Well, don't worry," Sollux said, squeezing his hand gently. "There's definitely an us."

Smiling softly, Eridan glanced over to make sure nobody was in the nearby portion of the hall before kissing him.

"Good. Now, unfortunately, I've got a faculty meeting in like 45 minutes, and I don't know how long it's gonna last, so you probably can't come over tonight. I've got time to drive you home though, if you want."

Sollux frowned a bit before pulling him into another kiss to delay having to leave. Eridan didn't mind that, wrapping his arms around his waist and holding him close, letting Sollux rest his head on his shoulder after. After a few moments of this, however, he slowly pulled away, not wanting to risk being caught in this kind of embrace with a student.

"It's okay," Sollux said finally. "I can just walk home. You don't have to leave and then come back just to drive me."

"I don't mind, Sol. But if you're sure.." Eridan was still loosely holding his hand, that being easier to hide if someone walked past than a hug.

"I'm sure. Let me know when you get home though. We can talk." He'd much rather be with him in person, of course, but he'd take what he could get.

"Yeah, I will. I feel bad that you're just stuck with your brother at home so often, and it doesn't sound like it's any better when your dad's there. I'll have to be grading papers while we talk, but that's alright. I'd feel bad about completely abandoning you," Eridan said, pressing one final kiss to his cheek. "Now go, or I'll never be able to pull myself away from you in time for my meeting."

Sollux smiled and let go of his hand, starting to walk towards the door. But before he could get out into the hall, Eridan spoke again.

"And Sol? I have no doubt you're enjoyin' cuddling with it or whatever else, but I do kinda want that sweatshirt back at some point." Eridan smirked at him, starting to walk towards the door himself.

"R-right. Yeah, I'll give it back. I just forgot it at home today," he muttered, rather embarrassed that Eridan had actually brought it up.

"No rush," he replied, smirking. "I was just reminding you. Seeing you all embarrassed is a bonus." That, of course, only made Sollux more flustered.

"I should probably go and, uh, let you get to your meeting," Sollux said, running a hand through his hair anxiously.

"Alright. I'll talk to you later."

Sollux nodded and left, smiling to himself as he walked down the hall. This could be really nice if it worked out.

The entire way home, he could almost forget the problems that had been plaguing him, from the nightmares to dealing with his absent more often than not father. Eridan was the only thing on his mind.

Once in the house, he tried to make his escape to upstairs, but was intercepted by his father.

"Your brother is out on a date," he said in lieu of a greeting.

Sollux paused. That definitely wasn't what he expected to hear, but Mituna being on a date was far from a tragedy.

"Okay...that's good, right? It's good that he's meeting people," Sollux offered somewhat hesitantly.

"I suppose. Did you know anything about this? Did he tell you?"

"What? No, he didn't. He mentioned that there was some girl he liked a couple of weeks ago, but that's all." Sollux leaned against the counter, stealing a glance at the clock. Unfortunately, the walk home had only taken 15 minutes, so there was lots of time until Eridan would be free to talk.

"Hmm... Well, I'm just concerned about him," his father mused. "Knowing how people treated him back home after his accident."

Sollux stayed silent. What could he say without the conversation going in a direction he really didn't want it to go?

"And then your...struggle to deal with it... I just wanted to get us away from that." As the man spoke, he was getting his coat, clearly getting ready to go out.

"Where are you going this time? More meetings with co-workers?" Sollux knew he sounded bitter, but he couldn't help it. Half of the time, he was left to fend for himself and Mituna, even now that they were in a new town where they didn't know many people. It seemed like they'd lost two parents instead of one the night of the accident.

"Sollux...I know it's hard for you right now. But I'm very busy right now trying to..." Sollux didn't hear the rest of what he had to say, turning and walking upstairs.

Without meaning to, he fell asleep sprawled out on his bed, even though it was only 4:30. There weren't any distinct nightmares, but when he woke up, the back of his head was aching terribly, like it'd been slammed against a wall. He had three missed calls from Eridan, it was after 8:00, and the house was still empty.

Sitting up, he tiredly rubbed his eyes and called Eridan back.

"Hey, Sol. I was kinda worried that somethin' happened..." He sounded both relieved and embarrassed for worrying in the first place.

"No, nothing happened. I just fell asleep for awhile."

"Oh. Well, it's good you got some sleep. You seemed like you needed it today."

Sollux just nodded, forgetting that Eridan couldn't see him. "Yeah, I guess so. I wish I was with you though."

Eridan laughed softly. "Yeah, I wish I was with you too. Tomorrow you can probably come over, I don't have much of anything to do then."

"Okay, sounds good," Sollux murmured, toying with the edge of the comforter as he spoke. "Too bad you have things to grade, or you could come here tonight. Nobody else is home."

"I suppose I could, if you know what time they're coming back. I could bring a few of the essays with me or something, and just keep you company."

"No, I'm not sure, so you probably shouldn't risk it." He wanted Eridan there, but he wasn't going to lie about when his brother and father might be home.

"Damn, okay. In that case, I'll just stay here." Sollux could hear papers shuffling in the background, probably the essays Eridan was grading.

"Um, if you need to focus on that, it's fine. It's not like we need to talk now," Sollux said hesitantly, hoping Eridan wouldn't take the out he was offering.

"Don't worry about it. I like it too...being able to feel like you're right here next to me," Eridan replied, a certain soft tone to his voice. "I could've used it last night after you left. I get the most awful nightmares. Always have."

"Oh?" Sollux's curiosity was piqued. "What kind of nightmares, if you don't mind me asking?"

"Ah, it's really crazy shit," Eridan muttered. "Like I'm an alien or something. It's been the same kind of dreams for years."

"Yeah, weird," Sollux forced out quietly, still playing with the edge of the comforter. His heart was practically in his throat, but he had to ask. "Like a gray alien with orangey horns and weird colored blood? Something about a game?"

"Yeah, exactly," Eridan said suspiciously. "How did you know?"

"Because I have those nightmares too. So does my best friend back home."

"Holy shit," Eridan breathed, the sound of papers gone as he just sat there, stunned.

"We've been trying to figure out what they mean, AA and I. She thinks it has something to do with ghosts, and past lives, and stuff."

Eridan was silent for a long few moments, and then he spoke like he was just testing the waters of something.

"Have ya had one where...where you were like part a something? Some kinda hybrid creature that you had to share your body and thoughts with?" It was clear that he was nervous about what Sollux might say.

"Yeah, last night. It was awful at first, but then it got comfortable almost." Sollux sighed, closing his eyes as he remembered that downright unnerving feeling.

"Me too," Eridan said. "I had it last night too."

It was silent for a long time, save the noise of both of them breathing. Neither of them thought of suggesting that they just hang up the phone though. There was something comforting in just knowing the other was right there.

Almost an hour of silence had passed, Eridan grading papers and Sollux just staring at the ceiling. The pain in his head was finally starting to fade.

He heard the front door open downstairs, then laughter and muted conversation. So Mituna, not his father. He couldn't quite figure out if that was good or bad, but it meant that he should probably get off the phone.

"I love you," Sollux murmured, just as he heard Latula leave and close the door.

"Yeah, I love you too," Eridan replied, equally quietly.

A long few moments dragged by, and Sollux heard Mituna coming upstairs.

"I guess I should go," he said with reluctance.

"Okay. Try not to worry about this too much. We'll figure it out, if there is anything to figure out."

"Yeah. Bye." He ended the call and extracted himself from his little blanket cocoon. At least hearing about Mituna's date might distract him.


End file.
